Agriculture ministry signs MoU with Microsoft for pilot project in 100 villages

New Delhi, Apr 15: The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Microsoft India has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Apr 14, for a pilot project in 100 villages of 6 states. The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of digital agriculture is now taking shape.

 

 

 

Microsoft has come forward to start a pilot project in selected 100 villages in 10 districts of 6 states; Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, in order to develop farmer interface for smart and well-organized agriculture, including post-harvest management and distribution. For the project, Microsoft has joined in with its local partner, CropData. Thus, a MoU and tripartite agreement have been exchanged in the presence of Cabinet Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and two Ministers of State.

 

The project is for one year and both sides inking the MoU will bear the cost on their own. The project will reduce the input costs for farmers and make farming easy. It is proposed to undertake similar pilot projects with other public and private players to create a vibrant digital agro-ecosystem in the country.

 

 

 

 

In order to increase the income of farmers by removing the bottleneck of inconsistent information, a number of new initiatives have been launched, among which a major one includes the creation of Agri-Funds based on the National Farmers Database. The government is preparing a farmer database by linking the land records of farmers across the country. Union Agriculture Minister Tomar has also issued directives for Geo tagging of all the assets that will be created by the virtue of all schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture.